The Gilded Age in America was one of mystery, industry, and glamour,
but underneath all of that, there was dirt, grime, and corruption. Gotham City was no exception.
Founded in 1685 as a settlement, Gotham quickly made a name for itself in the fur trade. It
quickly grew until British occupation in the early 1700s, and then the Revolutionary War in 1776.
There were many men and women of historical notoriety in the war, notably among them "Mad"
Anthony Wayne. He had earned his nickname for his angry temperament, infamous for punishing
the men serving under him severely, and also for his fierce assaults against the British
military forces. Anthony Wayne was known for many acts, but not all of them were honorable. He is
considered to be one of the people responsible for the start of a long history of aggression
violence and discrimination towards the Native American populace. He amassed enough wealth and
societal standing to pass down through his family. Long after his military career, some of his
descendants set out, and a few settled in Gotham City. The Wayne family in Gotham quickly used
their popularity and accumulated wealth to found Wayne Industrial Co. on the cusp of the 1820s.
Along with the Cobblepot and Sionis families, the Waynes helped launch Gotham in the American
Industrial Revolution. this effectively put the families at the head of the economy in Gotham.
Gotham began to thrive. As the 1830s arrived, so did the latest member of the Wayne family, Thomas.
Thomas eventually met his wife, Martha Arkham, as he neared young adulthood and the two became
married. They were determined to put the sordid past of the Wayne family behind them and lead
Wayne Industrial Co. in a different direction; one for the betterment and inclusion of the people.
One step that Thomas took was hiring a young man, Lucius Fox, as his head chief foreman.
It was a highly controversial move as Lucius was a black man and tensions
were high between Northern and Southern states, but Lucius overcame that obstacle,
performing above and beyond for Wayne Industrial Co. Thomas and Lucius became fast friends.
The future was looking bright. Then came the American Civil War in 1861.
In April of 1861, Thomas and Martha conceived a child, unbeknownst to both of them. As the Civil
War conflict began, Thomas left Gotham to fight for the Northern states alongside his best friend
Jacob Packer. Utilizing their training as surgeons, they became field medics for the Union.
Soon after, Martha began to notice the subtle changes: she was pregnant.
In January of 1862, she gave birth to their son, Bruce Thomas Wayne. Thomas was, against all odds,
allowed a brief amount of leave once he received word of his son's birth.
It was a joyous occasion for both Thomas and Martha in the midst of such a bloody conflict,
but left Thomas's friend Jacob a bit spiteful towards him.
Though Thomas had to return to the war, the Waynes brought into their employ one Alfred Pennyworth,
a young actor and former veteran from England. Thomas had met him at a boxing match some
years prior where the two had gone head-to-head, concluding with a draw. Thomas wanted a butler to
aid Martha in the raising of the young Wayne son. With the end of the American Civil War in 1865,
Thomas returned home, disillusioned by the horrors he had seen in the battlefield.
As the years progressed, he poured himself into his work as a surgeon.
He pioneered new techniques, having seen many amputations and botched medical procedures on
the battlefield. Thomas left the handling of the family company to more interested parties
while still remaining the owner. Bruce grew into a healthy young boy, cherishing his parents
like none other. His parents loved him with all their hearts, and he loved them with all of his.
When the boy reached the age of 10 years, one tragic event changed all of that.
After attending a performance at the Gotham Opera,
Thomas, Martha, and Bruce were riding home in their stagecoach
during their journey back to the Wayne Estate. Their coach was held up on one of the back roads.
A man, cloaked in shadow, coerced them out of the carriage, demanding their valuables.
Thomas, being a former military man, tried to stop the bandit, but was shot, soon followed by
Martha. Bruce could only watch on in horror as his life crumbled before him. The criminal next turned
his guns on the boy, but was stopped when a colony of bats was startled out of the surrounding trees.
The shadowy man fled in terror, leaving the young boy with his dead parents.
It was once the police became involved that a young Bruce met James Gordon,
a rookie police officer new to Gotham. The young policeman and former Civil War
veteran comforted Bruce and assured him in the midst of his shock and horror.
This tragedy scarred the boy for life. He was left in the care of Alfred
and a nun and family friend of the Waynes named Sister Leslie Thompkins. Bruce spent much of his
childhood at the orphanage that Sister Leslie ran, Saint Caldwell's. It became like a second
home to him. He had few friends among the other orphans except for a young girl named Selina Kyle.
As Bruce grew into young adulthood, he left the sanctuary of Saint Caldwell's.
He had grown accustomed to hiding his anger, masking his pain, and appearing composed, but
underneath he was enraged at his parents murder. He saw the crime and corruption everywhere;
the child labor in factories, the corrupt police force, the prostitution, and the petty crime that
had become a part of Gotham's culture. He began to lose hope. One night, after a particularly
intense depressive episode, he stumbled to his parents' grave. There, he vowed he would wage
war on the crime and corruption seeded in Gotham City. But in order to do this, he knew he needed
to be more than just a rich aristocrat, more than just a man. In 1879, at the age of 17,
Bruce left Gotham to travel worldwide, studying various methods of criminology, investigation,
and deduction. Over the next few years, Bruce encountered many names that were mentioned in
those circles. He met a young Harry Houdini and trained alongside him in the art of escapology
before the magician's illustrious career. He met Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and trained under
him in the art of deduction using the author's character Sherlock Holmes as an inspiration.
He had many more teachers, with his final being Sigmund Freud, with whom he trained
in psychology. The two left on rather tense terms as their ideologies tended to put them at odds.
By 1889, Bruce had studied under and trained with some of the most accomplished men in history,
but there was still something missing in his preparations. During his travels,
he encountered many different cultures, and one symbol stood out to him: the bat.
In Celtic folklore, they were a symbol of change, courage, and hope, while in most other places
in Europe, they were symbols of evil, fear, and terror. Bruce saw this as a two-fold reason for
his war on crime. He would give Gotham's citizens hope and courage, while instilling fear and terror
in the hearts of the criminal element. He would bring justice to a city in which there was none.
And so, in 1889, the Bat was born. Bruce's return to Gotham in 1891 was a triumphant one.
He spent a small amount of time visiting old friends; James Gordon, Sister Leslie,
Lucius Fox, and most of all Alfred. He also ran into his father's old friend "Uncle" Jacob Packer.
Soon after his return, a mysterious new figure appeared: the Bat-Man. The filth and scum that
had festered for so long in the streets of Gotham finally had a response to wash it away in the
Bat. The Bat-Man began his war on crime, filling the massive void caused by Gotham's underworld.
Rumors began to circulate. Was he a vampire, was he a spirit, or was he just a man?
But alongside the start of his crusade came another, one with much more sinister goals.
Whitechapel, 1888-1891. This was a time of terror in England. It saw the murders of many
women by the killer known as Jack the Ripper. He had left numerous notes and letters to the
Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, but none could guess his true identity. Then, as suddenly as
the murders started, they stopped. No one knew who had committed them, and no one knew where he went.
There were suspects, but evidence was never conclusive. What had happened to Jack the Ripper?
It wasn't until 1892 when the world got its answer. The Gotham City Police Department began
to receive letters from Jack. He openly challenged the police, as well as the rumored Bat-Man,
stating that he had already begun killing again. The Reign of the Ripper marked a new
age in Gotham, as it was one of fear and of hope. Jack the Ripper and the Bat-Man.
Eventually, Jack the Ripper was apprehended, having been revealed to be none other than
Jacob Packer, Thomas Wayne's longtime friend. His psychosis ran deep, and the man was sentenced to
life in Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. The Civil War had left its mark on the man.
It was not long after that Gotham's city officials, wanting to put the horrors of
Jack behind them, started to push for the Gotham World Fair. It was a renewal project
that sought to bring in tourists from all around the world, showcase numerous industrial strides,
and lighten the darkness that had surrounded Gotham for so long. It was almost as if Gotham
itself took this as a challenge. The Gotham World Fair saw numerous threats from its conception:
Edward Nashton in his Labyrinthine Hotel, Alexandre LeRoi and his magnifying lens used
to burn buildings and people alive from his blimp, and the Wonder City Calamity.
The Bat-Man fought long and hard to match the threats presented by these criminals.
The evil in Gotham was beginning to evolve, but none were so gruesome
as the Joker. Nicknamed the "Merry Widower" by the police, this man would marry women of wealth
and status then poison them using strychnine. He killed 10 women before being apprehended by
police, but not before he attempted to evade them by suicide. The murderer used the very poison he
had on his former wives, but it didn't kill him. It instead scarred him, turning his skin pale,
his hair a sickly dark green, and pulling his facial muscles into a ghastly grin. The birth
of the Joker was as gruesome as the horrors he would inflict on Gotham in the years to come.
With the passage of years came a bitterness in Bruce's view of the city he had fought so hard to
protect. He had seen the rise of many allies and many new foes, and what he was left with was death
and destruction. He eventually retired in 1912, having reached his 50s. When the Great War arrived
in 1914, he had seen too much battle in Gotham to have the physical capacity to join this battle.
Instead, he used his influence and wealth to aid those disparaged by the war.
Bruce came to Gotham's aid in many other ways, including training his eventual replacement,
Terence McGinnis, but he died in 1953 at the age of 89.
Gotham still stands to this day, and it will always remember the Bat-Man.
Over the centuries, he has become the inspiration for many urban legends and folklore.
To some, he was a mythical being, to others, he was a helping hand,
but one thing we do know about him: he brought justice to Gotham.